Logan travels the world and gives you his view of it.
My contact is logan9a@yahoo.com

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Monday, January 16, 2012

ANGKOR WAT

REINCARNATION

If people got reincarnated into machines, becoming a scooter in the states wouldn't be so bad. Your biggest worry would be someone riding you recklessly or getting creamed by a car driver who wasn't paying attention. A quick crunch and it's all over.

Then, you have another shot at reincarnation. Maybe come back as a human, maybe the dildo you've speculated on in the past.

But being reincarnated as a scooter in SE Asia would suck ass. Sure - you'd have a limited form of immortality. You will always be in fairly bad condition but continuously patched and repaired.

But the American scenario above would be a rare thing. More likely you'd be carrying four or five adults. Worse yet, hooked up with a heavy trailer hauling as many as twenty people and cargo. It would be a hard life for you.

So, when you die - pray you don't come back as a scooter in SE Asia. Go for the dildo instead.

POSSIBLE ADVERTISEMENTS FOR THE "LOGAN'S VOYAGE" BLOG

Not as much fun as jacking off to internet porn, though you may still feel dirty and stained after reading it.

ONLINE INDIA VISA SHENANIGANS

As I suspected, the process is not working. First, you have to put a lot of time in answering all sorts of questions like who you are married to. It doesn't ask if you are single - it assumes you are married. You can't not fill out that part of the form, it is mandatory. Apparently, everyone in India is married and you are expected to be so as well.

At the beginning of the form, it also wants to know the office you will be turning the form into. Phnom Penh is an option but Bangkok is not. I am praying that Bangkok hasn't yet gotten into this digital madness.

At the end of the form, you need to select a time for your interview before you can go to the page that will give you a print out of all of the information you carefully put in. That part is broken preventing you from ever getting to print out your documents.

Unlike the rest of the digital world that allows you to make a user name and password, this page gives you a temporary application ID. The claim is that if you need to go back to your form, you can enter that fifteen digit alpha numeric string and edit your data. When I entered mine, it claimed there was no such number and offered me a new temporary application ID.

I didn't want to spend another fifteen minutes trying to make their form work.

My current plan is to hang out in Siem Reap for the weekend then head out to Bangkok on Monday. There, I will try to secure a place to stay in the cheaper part of town (Khao San Road where the backpackers hang out) and hit up the Indian Embassy. I'd like to try to get this done on Tuesday or Wednesday because I've noticed that on Thursday they have a holiday. I'm thinking that they may stretch it into a four day holiday. I would. Hell, maybe I should leave on Sunday so I can get set up there and be ready for Monday. That would give me one extra day.

I don't want to go after that because my visa will be running out and I don't want to extend it or pay a fine if I don't have to.

According to the internet, it is a six hour journey from here to Bangkok. I'm expecting eight to ten hours with the border and usual lack of punctuality.

ANGKOR WAT

I decided to head out to Angkor Wat. I was having trouble finding someone I could bribe to make a phone call for me until I went to a restaurant. The guy working there was happy to call for me and wouldn't accept any money for it. Good deal. Unfortunately, I later got sick from the food I ate there so it kind of balanced out I suppose.

I had him call Lee, who I had met upon first arriving in Siem Reap. Lee's offer of $12 for the short tour (big tour $14) seemed great to me. Lee also was delighted to have me put his phone number in the blog. If anyone needs a tuk tuk driver, this guy speaks pretty good English. He also did a lot of little nice things for me like provide free water during the trip and such. His cell phone number is 012995378. Note that this number works within country - if you are trying to call him from overseas, you'll need to look up the country code for Cambodia and all of that. If you're wanting to see Angkor Wat, it's a good cheap way to do it. You can see Lee in some of the videos telling me a bit about the history of the place and such.

Angkor Wat is very much the central showpiece of Cambodia. Some people come in just to see that then split. I think the rest of the country is interesting and inexpensive to see as well.

My tour consisted of seeing four different temples. Aside from Angkor Wat, I have no clue at all what their names were. Other people in the videos pronounce them. My favorite was the second place I went. A very cool temple that you can clamber around in that hasn't been totally infested with tourists. Angkor Wat is not crowded but that is just because of its massive size. The other two temples gave me the feeling of claustrophobia caused by too many people walking like they were stoned looking at their guide books or talking to each other.

I'm glad I spent the money going to these places. Lee was a good guide. I had the feeling he knew more information than he told me but he may have correctly read that I didn't want the information. If I did, I could look it up on the internet.

Now, a couple of tidbits that might be useful for other people wanting to go to the Angkor Wat park:

A daily ticket is $20. They take your picture and it is built into the ticket. You can buy tickets for longer. I knew going in that one day there would be enough. If you are the kind of person that wants to explore longer, you can either buy a series of $20 tickets or get more days at a cheaper price.

You can't walk there. You will need a vehicle to get there. I haven't seen any scooter rental places in Siem Reap. If you are wanting to take a scooter there on your own you will need to rent it from elsewhere and bring it here. I did see quite a few healthy people on bikes. If you are fit, that is probably a good way to do it but you will probably need more than just a one day ticket.

My tour was $12. I could have probably negotiated a couple dollars off of it but I didn't since I had Lee called to come to the restaurant I was at. You don't get someone to drop what they're doing so they can show up get bartered. I'm guessing that if you waved a $20 in someone's face, you'd have a committed driver for the entire day who is wanting to show up for any future days.

The police sometimes check the ID's of the drivers. The drivers are suppose to have a tanned vest with four numbers on the back. If the drivers don't have this, the cops fine them one dollar per cop. Guess where the money goes? If you don't have an 'official driver' that cost may be passed on to you. Yes, it turned out that Lee was an official driver. We just got waved through the impromptu police fund raiser.

CAMBODIAN WAGES

I was talking to one of the guys who works the desk. I think they get free lodging here. They may also get free food but on that I'm not sure - I am doubtful. Their wages are $50 per month according to the man I spoke with. It's a bit depressing. I've heard that others (without lodging) are making $150. Very, very depressing.

THE ANGKOR WAT VIDEO COLLECTION

There are many temples in the region. For lazy tourists (like Logan) these can all be loosely classified as Angkor Wat. I'd like to apologize to everyone that I don't have anti roll on the camera nor a film crew. Both would help but I just don't have the money or connections for either.

It has been pointed out to me that the Blair Witch movie made money. Sadly, I couldn't afford even the lame witch at the end to try to scare me. If I ever got a working mail address, I'm sure people would want to send me lame witches. We'll see.

In these videos, Logan bravely battles through hordes of people trying to sell him stuff, the crush of other tourists, his bowels and the occasional loss of his own driver to experience the beauty and majesty of the old Khmer ruins and crassly exploit them for his own amusement.